two drawings from my /heart/ sketchbook

Now and For Always (From Lord of the Rings the Musical) - James Loye & Peter Howe

wilderlandranger:

Types of people Middle Earth

Aragorn: watching the sky get light, clothes worn like a second skin, whispered promises, broken swords, sleeping among the trees, songs of lost love

Frodo: linen shirts, silk waistcoats, self sacrifice, mushrooms, tea by the fire, not daring to trust, romanticizing stories of adventure

Merry: sun flowers, protective, sudden acts of strength, getting into trouble, willing to fight to protect loved ones, stepping into the wild for the first time

Pippin: easy grins and laughter, snatching berries from a neighbor’s yard, quick mind, remembering old songs, getting too deep too fast, pipeweed

Samwise: going to bed after a long days work, love of gardens, loyal to the end, dirt smudges, venturing away from places known, refusing to lose hope

Gandalf: ancient wisdom, heavy with burdens unknown, wool cloaks, fireworks fading into darkness, remembering old languages, many names, scrolls of forgotten knowledge

Legolas: in awe of forests, lost in thought, scared of death, clear night sky and full moon, reading the stars, ivy on old statues

Boromir: overcoming struggle, the smell of blood, steel swords, white stone, honor above all else, the cry of a horn in the night, desperate to do right

Gimli: rubies under mountains, gruff voices, folklore passed down generations, battle cries, humor in the darkness, naming weapons for their deeds, amber ale

Arwen: purple twilight, velvet, fearing the end of the world, prophesy, lyres and harps, bluebells among ferns, fickle magic

Eowyn: plains of yellowed grass, blue skies, freckles, hidden strength, forgotten at home, protecting at all costs, braided hair, farmiliar with grief, intricately carved wood

Galadriel: fine lace, silver laughter, ancient music, overwhelming power, beauty told in stories, full moon, golden embroidery, walking barefoot through the grass

Bilbo: learning the world through maps, finding courage in unexpected places, telling stories to children, running headfirst into adventure, red wool coats, breakfast feasts

Thorin: desperate for home, hiding emotion, crackling trees lit up with flame, hidden doors of stone, old maps handed down from father to son, fearing madness

Faramir: desperate for approval, old cave systems, waterfalls in the moonlight, remembering myth, pine trees in the wild, ruined cities restored, well worn paths

Theoden: weathered faces, greying hair, wisdom earned through experience, strength to lend to soldiers, fingers gripping the hilt of a familiar sword, riding to the aid of another

Elrond: looking into the future, fear of darkness, vaulted ceilings, flute music, fine silk, light filtering through trees, shimmer of water under the moon, honoring old allies

Hello friends, new and old! Welcome to my new blog!

It’s hard to sell oneself in merely a header, title or description, so I figured - for the sake of anyone who wanders into this place - that I would organize a bunch of fundamental information right here!

Who am I?

Who are you?You needn’t think of that now, unless of course, you’d like to.

My name is Jules, I use he/they pronouns, and I am a lifelong fan of Tolkien’s work and world. As a small child, my mother read The Lord of the Rings to me, and by the age of six I had seen the films. I read the books for myself between the ages of eight and ten, and have done so some times since. 

Tolkien’s work shaped me fundamentally from that starry-eyed chapter in my youth, everything from my fantastical adventures and ambitious in my backyard to my perception of masculinity, femininity, love, power and comradery. The young man I am and grow to be each day is very much indebted to the characters and stories of all The Professor’s work.

What is this blog?

Obviously, this blog is themed around an appreciation for anything and everything Middle Earth. 

In particular, though, I intend to post a combination of quotes from the novels and/or films, and brief observations or notations I find in the margins of my copies of the novels as I re-read them, perhaps with some fresh notes to join them. In addition, I am taking a class this semester in University entitled “J. R. R. Tolkien and Counterculture,” (with our dear @wilderlandranger) and will likely post some notes, food for thought, or even scribbles for assignments. 

There will also likely be memes. Maybe some of my own writing. 

I am very much going to treat this blog like a more organized version of a very disorganized Word doc currently festering on my Desktop called “Tolkien Diary,” if that adds any briefer explanation or flavor to what you expect. 

Additives and Addendums

If I find anything more noteworthy to add to this post of great importance, then it will be listed under this section! But, for now, good day!

Samwich my beloved

Let me get this straight. I defeated a minor god and you’re hassling me over a parking ticket?

- Samwise Gamgee, having had enough of this shit, The Lord of the Rings, book VI, chapter VIII

dimdiamond:

Of course it’s something I want to draw @purpleprosaist❣️

Sam deserves some hugs too yep.

When the Gardner’s feeling stressed,
plant him in a soft bed.

ruffboijuliaburnsides:

prismatic-bell:

deltasquadformingup:

jrrtolkiens:

the-artifice-of-eternity:

thranduils:

captainjennhart:

jrrtolkiens:

frodo baggins the iconic reluctant hero who saved the entirety of arda deserves so much better than “sam gamgee is the real hero” i said what i said

#yes!!!!!! its not that sam’s contributions shouldn’t be appreciated#but frodo bore like impossible psychological torment and despair#and yet clowns still act like this because#he does actually crack and struggle under the stress#and he doesn’t have some aragorn style battle scene#but GO OFF i guess

“Frodo deserved all honour because he spent every drop of his power of will and body, and that was just sufficient to bring him to the destined point, and no further. Few others, possibly no others of his time, would have got so far.” –J. R. R. Tolkien, Letter 192

Let’s be real, at least half the reason people refuse to see Frodo as the “real hero” of the story is because he actively chooses non-violence and mercy. 

I remember some YouTube commenter writing “Frodo is so overrated, he never even kills anyone” and if that doesn’t win the award for Most Impressive Failure to Get the Point, I’m not sure what does. 

#tbh I adore sam gamgee#but he would throw hands if he knew people were praising him by putting frodo down via@the-artifice-of-eternity

some little hobbit child listening to a story: geez did Frodo even do anything

all the adults in the room: no doN’T

samwise gamgee vaulting in through the window: FIRST OF ALL

Hot Take time:

Neither of them is a hero.

They are two halves of a single hero. (No, this is not a joke about being hobbit-sized.)

Frodo is the one who has to bear the mental torture and hardship of the Ring–but without Sam, he couldn’t have. Who is there to offer a joke, a smile, a hug, an unjudging ear, an extra bite of bread when Frodo looks peaky and ill, a doubled-up bedroll when it’s too cold for a small hobbit used to a good hole with a warm fire? Frodo would have failed long before he reached Mount Doom without Sam to cheer him on.

Likewise: Sam could never have made the journey alone. He doesn’t have Frodo’s mental strength. But he’s a gardener: his job is to make things grow, to nurture them and make them flourish. Who is there to give him a purpose as he travels across a land so big, so far, hoping to save his home?

Separate the pair of them, and neither would have made it. Frodo needed the shelter of Sam’s heart in order to find his way–and Sam needed a leader.

It’s literally love and friendship and camaraderie that save Middle Earth. Neither could be the chosen one alone.

It’s literally love and friendship and camaraderie that saved Middle Earth. Neither could be the chosen one alone.

And that was, in fact, Tolkien’s entire point.

let’s buy and island and start to live like they do in middle earth